Undersea hydraulic coupling for use with manifold plates

ABSTRACT

An undersea hydraulic coupling is disclosed having tails on both the male and female members to allow insertion through and attachment to manifold plates. The tails on the hydraulic coupling members are provided with substantially rigid positioning members to allow the coupling members to be held in a nominal position with respect to the manifold plate, thereby preventing galling when the coupling members are mated, and further preventing unnecessary crimping or pressure weakened points at the connection of the tail to hydraulic lines.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates, in general, to hydraulic couplings, andspecifically to hydraulic couplings used in undersea drilling andproduction applications. More particularly, the invention involves analignment system designed to provide proper alignment when the maleand/or female member of a hydraulic coupling is attached to a manifoldplate.

2. Description of Related Art

Subsea hydraulic couplings are old in the art. The couplings generallyconsist of a male member and a female member with sealed fluid passageways connecting there between. The female member generally is acylindrical body with a relatively large diameter longitudinal bore atone end and a relatively small diameter longitudinal bore or tail at theother. The tail facilitates insertion through manifold plates, andconnections to hydraulic lines, while the large bore seals, andslidingly engages, the male member of the coupling. The male memberincludes a cylindrical portion at one-end having an outer diameterapproximately equal to the diameter of the large bore in the femalemember of the coupling. The male member also includes a tail connectionat its other end to facilitate insertion through a manifold plate, andconnection to hydraulic lines. When the cylindrical portion of the malemember is inserted into the large bore of the female member, accordingto various embodiments of the device, fluid flow is established betweenthe male and female members.

Typically, both the female and male portion of the hydraulic couplinghave each been fixedly attached to manifold plates. The manifold platesare brought together to mate the hydraulic coupling. Hydraulic lines areattached to the distal end of the female and male couplings on theopposite side of each manifold plate.

Generally in the past, the manifold plates and the associated hydrauliccoupling portions have been arranged such that the coupling portion isin a vertical or near vertical position. Additionally, the couplingportions in prior art systems have been screwed into threads insideholes cut through the manifold plates. The process of threading themanifold plates requires precision machining and is expensive and timeconsuming. What is needed is a way to cut plain, unthreaded holesthrough the manifold plates to connect hydraulic coupling portions therethrough. However, when the manifold plates are positioned such that thehydraulic coupling portions extend from the manifold plate at asignificantly non-vertical angle, unless the fit between the manifoldplate and the hydraulic coupling is precision cut for an exact fit, thehydraulic coupling portion will misalign or sag. If that occurs, twoadverse effects occur. First when the manifold plates containing themale and female members are brought together, because the couplings arenot lined up properly, galling can occur reducing the ability tomaintain pressurized fluid integrity. Second, when the hydraulic linesare connected to the distal ends of the male and female couplingportions, if the couplings are not perpendicular to the manifold plateit will cause the hydraulic line to bend or crimp. This can cause anearly fail point in the hydraulic line.

What is needed is a hydraulic coupling that can be used in manifoldplates having a smooth bore hole larger than the outer bore of theportion of the coupling to be inserted through the manifold plate,wherein the hydraulic coupling has an alignment system causing it toremain substantially perpendicular to the hydraulic plate no matter whatposition the hydraulic plate is in.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a tail on the non-coupling end of both amale and female member of a hydraulic coupling device. The tail ismachined to fit through pre-cut, holes in a manifold plate. Theclearance between the outer diameter of the tail and the inner diameterof the hole in the manifold plate is such that the tail will fit easilythrough the hole. The tail has positioning members on its outer diameterthat when inserted fully into the hole in the manifold the positioningmembers compress to an interference fit which will hold the coupling ina nominal, substantially perpendicular, position to the manifold plate.Additionally, the retaining ring that holds the tail in place in thehole in the manifold plate can also have a positioning member thatcompresses against the manifold plate opposite of the male or female endof the coupling to hold the coupling in a nominal position to the plate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following drawings form part of the present specification and areincluded to further demonstrate certain aspects of the presentinvention. The invention may be better understood by reference to one ormore of these drawings in combination with the detailed description ofspecific embodiments presented herein.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a prior art configuration of a male andfemale portion of a hydraulic coupling each fixedly attached with athreaded connection to a manifold plate.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the male member of the coupling accordingto a first embodiment, with the tail of the male member inserted into amanifold plate.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the female member of the couplingaccording to the first embodiment, with the tail of the female memberinserted into a manifold plate.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a male member of the coupling according toa second embodiment, with the tail of the male member inserted into amanifold plate.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a female member of the coupling accordingto the second embodiment, with the tail of the female member insertedinto a manifold plate.

DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows a prior art hydraulic coupling connection to manifoldplates. As can be seen in FIG. 1, manifold plate 4 is fixedly connectedto female member 6 through the threaded connection 12. Likewise,manifold plate 2 is fixedly connected to male member 8 through threadedconnection 10. This prior art device is shown in more detail in U.S.Pat. No. 6,202,690. This prior art device has the disadvantage of havingthe expense of threading the inside of the holes in the manifold plates2 and 4. The present invention solves this problem and providesadditional flexibility in the connection between the coupling membersand the hydraulic plates.

In FIG. 2, a first embodiment of the undersea hydraulic coupling of thepresent invention is shown. FIG. 2 shows the male member of the couplingand its attachment to a manifold plate. The manifold plate 16 can be anythickness, but preferred standard thicknesses are 1¼ inch or 2 inch. Themale member 14 of the hydraulic coupling is shown as having tail 18which extends through manifold plate 16. Once the tail 18 is insertedthrough the manifold plate 16, it is held in place by retainer ring 20,which is held in locking position by snap ring 22 that fits into groove24 that extends radially around the circumference of the tail 18. Ofcourse, the retaining ring 20 could be threaded on or held in placethrough any number of alternatives that will be apparent to those ofskill in the art. As can be seen in FIG. 2, there is a radial space 26between the body of the tail 18 and the inner bore of the hole inmanifold plate 16. Preferably the radial space 26 will be in the rangeof 0.025-0.050 inches. As will be further seen, the retainer ring 20 isnot in tight fit with manifold plate 16, leaving gap 28 as well. Gap 28is also preferably in the range of 0.025-0.050 inches. Because of radialspace 26 and gap 28, the male member 14 may shift so as not to benominal (substantially perpendicular) to the manifold plate 16. Thiswill be particularly true due to cantilevering when plate 16 is turnedvertically so that male member 14 extends horizontally therefrom. Thepresent embodiment prevents the tail 18 of the male member 14 fromshifting, even when extending horizontally, through the use ofsubstantially rigid positioning members 30 extending around thecircumference of the tail 18 in grooves cut into the tail 18. Thepositioning members 30 are preferably elasomeric o-rings. The o-rings 30have enough rigidity to hold the male member 14 nominal to the manifoldplate 16. The end of the tail 36 of female member 32 that extendsthrough manifold plate 34 is used to connect to hydraulic lines.

The o-rings of this embodiment are one type of a substantially rigidpositioning member. The o-rings are not for the purpose of sealing, andare not required to main seal integrity. As those of skill in the artwill note, the o-rings 30 of this embodiment may be replaced with anyelement that provides enough give to allow the tail 18 to be inserted,but enough rigidity to hold the male member 14 nominal. Additionally,rather than having o-rings around the circumference of the tail 18,there could be fins that run longitudinally on the tail or any othersuitable arrangement.

FIG. 3 shows the female member that mates with the male member of FIG. 2and the tail structure of the female member that connects through itsmanifold plate. The female member 32 connects through manifold plate 34.The manifold plate 34 can be any thickness, but preferred standardthicknesses are {fraction (1/4)} inch or 2 inch. The male member 32 ofthe hydraulic coupling is shown as having tail 36 which extends throughmanifold plate 34. Once the tail 36 is inserted through the manifoldplate 34, it is held in place by retainer ring 38, which is held inlocking position by snap ring 40 that fits into groove 42 that extendsradially around the circumference of the tail 36. In FIG. 3, as therewas in FIG. 2, there is a radial space 44 between the body of the tail36 and the inner bore of the hole in manifold plate 34. Preferably theradial space 44 will be in the range of 0.025-0.050 inches. As will befurther seen, the retainer ring 38 is not in tight fit with manifoldplate 34, leaving gap 46 as well. Preferably gap 46 is in the range of0.025-0.050 inches. Because of radial space 44 and gap 46, the femalemember 32 may shift in the manifold plate 34 so as not to be nominal(substantially perpendicular) to the plate. The present embodimentprevents the tail 36 of the female member 32 from shifting, even whenextending horizontally, through the use of substantially rigidpositioning members 48 extending around the circumference of the tail 36in grooves cut into the tail 36. The substantially rigid positioningmembers 48 are preferably elastomeric o-rings that have enough rigidityto hold the female member 32 nominal to the manifold plate 34. The endof the tail 36 of female member 32 that extends through manifold plate34 is used to connect to hydraulic lines.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the present invention showing a malemember of a hydraulic coupling attached to a hydraulic plate as shown inFIG. 2 with the addition of an additional substantially rigidpositioning member associated with the retainer ring. In FIG. 4,components that are the same as FIG. 2 bear the same component number asthose of FIG. 2. In FIG. 4, in addition to o-rings 30 that help hold themale member 14 in a nominal relationship with hydraulic plate 16, amodified retainer ring 50 is used. The modified retainer ring 50 has agroove cut into the radial face that engages with the manifold plate 16.Another substantially rigid positioning member 52, preferably an o-ring,is inserted in the groove in the modified retainer ring 50. The o-ring52 is in contact with the modified retainer ring 50 and the manifoldplate 16 so as to further resist cantilevering of the male member 14.

As shown in FIGS. 2-4, the manifold plates are shown as having a 1¼ inchthickness. The tail 18 of the male member 14 of FIG. 4 could be extendedan additional 1-1½ inches. An additional groove 24 could be cut aroundthe circumference of the tail an additional {fraction (3/4)} inches outon the tail 18 so that the tail 18 will be capable of being attached toa 1¼ inch or 2 inch manifold plate 16 without further modification. Forattachment to the thicker manifold plate, the modified retainer ring 50would simply be held in place by a snap ring in the new groove ¾ inchesfurther out on the tail 18. This modification could be made to the tailshown in each of the embodiments.

FIG. 5 shows the female member of FIG. 3 with the modified retainer ringof FIG. 4. All like numbered components in FIG. 5 are the same as thecomponent in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. The tail could be extended for thickerhydraulic plates as described above as well.

Those of skill in the art will understand that portions of each of theseembodiments may be combined or eliminated to create substantiallyequivalent embodiments to meet the objectives of the present inventionto prevent cantilevering of hydraulic coupling components attached tohydraulic plates with fixed attachment such as with a threadedconnection.

1. An undersea hydraulic coupling member comprising: (a) a tail; (b) atleast one substantially rigid positioning member associated with thetail, wherein the substantially rigid positioning members are in contactwith the inner bore of a manifold plate when the tail is insertedthrough the manifold plate.
 2. The undersea hydraulic coupling member ofclaim 1 wherein the substantially rigid positioning member is an o-ring.3. The undersea hydraulic coupling member of claim 1 wherein thesubstantially rigid positioning member is elastomeric.
 4. The underseacoupling member of claim 1 further comprising a retaining ring to attachthe hydraulic coupling member to the manifold plate.
 5. The underseacoupling member of claim 4 wherein the retaining ring is held in placewith a snap ring contained in a groove in the tail.
 6. The underseacoupling member of claim 5 wherein the tail has at least two grooves forcontaining the snap ring to accommodate manifold plates of differentthicknesses.
 7. An undersea hydraulic coupling member comprising: (a) atail; (b) at least one substantially rigid positioning member associatedwith the tail, wherein the substantially rigid positioning members arein contact with the inner bore of a manifold plate when the tail isinserted through the manifold plate; and (c) a retainer ring with asubstantially rigid positioning member associated with the face of theretainer ring that will engage with the manifold plate.
 8. The underseahydraulic coupling member of claim 7 wherein the substantially rigidpositioning members are o-rings.
 9. The undersea hydraulic couplingmember of claim 7 wherein the substantially rigid positioning membersare elastomeric.